Khoe languages

Khoe
Central Khoisan (obsolete)
Geographic distribution	Namibiaand theKalahari Desert
Linguistic classification	Khoe–Kwadi Khoe
Proto-language	Proto-Khoe
Subdivisions	Khoekhoe Tshu–Khwe
Glottolog	khoe1241

TheKhoe(/ˈkweɪ/KWAY) languages are the largest of the non-Bantulanguage familiesindigenous to Southern Africa. They were once considered to be a branch of aKhoisanlanguage family, and were known asCentral Khoisanin that scenario. Though Khoisan is now rejected as a family, the name is retained as a term of convenience.

The most numerous and only well-known Khoi language isKhoikhoi(Nama/Damara) ofNamibia.The rest of the family is found predominantly in theKalahari DesertofBotswana.The languages are similar enough that a fair degree of communication is possible between Khoikhoi and the languages of Botswana.

The Khoi languages were the first Khoisan languages known to European colonists and are famous for theirclicks,though these are not as extensive as in other Khoisan language families. There are two primary branches of the family,Khoikhoiof Namibia andSouth Africa,andTshu–Khweof Botswana andZimbabwe.Except for Nama, they are under pressure from national or regional languages such asTswana.

History

Tom Güldemannbelieves agro-pastoralist people speaking theKhoe–Kwadiproto-language entered modern-day Botswana about 2000 years ago from the northeast (that is, from the direction of the modernSandawe), where they had likely acquired agriculture from the expandingBantu,at a time when the Kalahari was more amenable to agriculture. The ancestors of theKwadi(and perhaps theDamara) continued west, whereas those who settled in the Kalahari absorbed speakers ofJuu languages.Thus, the Khoe family proper has a Juu influence. These immigrants were ancestral to the north-eastern Kalahari peoples (Eastern Tshu–Khwe branch linguistically), whereas Juu neighbours (or perhapsKxʼaneighbours more generally) to the southwest who shifted to Khoe were ancestral to the Western Tshu–Khwe branch.

Later desiccation of the Kalahari led to the adoption of ahunter-gatherereconomy and preserved the Kalahari peoples from absorption by the agricultural Bantu when they spread south.

Those Khoe who continued southwestwards retained pastoralism and became theKhoekhoe.They mixed extensively with speakers ofTuu languages,absorbing features of their languages. This has resulted in Tuu andKx'asubstratain the Khoekhoe languages.The expansion of theNama peopleinto Namibia and their absorption of client peoples such as the Damara andHaiǁomtook place in the 16th century and later, at about the time of European contact and colonization.

Classification

The nearest relative of the Khoe family may be the extinctKwadi languageofAngola.This larger group, for which pronouns and some basic vocabulary have been reconstructed, is calledKhoe–Kwadi.However, because Kwadi is poorly attested, it is difficult to tell which common words are cognate and which might be loans. Beyond that, the nearest relative may be theSandaweisolate; the Sandawe pronoun system is very similar to that of Khoe–Kwadi, but there are not enough known correlations for regular sound correspondences to be worked out. However, the relationship has some predictive value, for example if theback-vowel constraint,which operates in the Khoe languages but not in Sandawe, is taken into account.

Language classifications may list one or two dozen Khoe languages. Because many aredialect clusters,there is a level of subjectivity involved in separating them. Counting each dialect cluster as a unit results in nine Khoe languages:

Khoe	Khoekhoe North Khoekhoe Khoekhoe Eini† South Khoekhoe Khoemana(Korana, Griqua) Kalahari (Tshu–Khwe) East Kalahari Shua Tsoa ?Tsʼixa West Kalahari Kxoe Naro ?ǂHaba(closest to Naro?) Gǁana

• Nama(ethnonyms Khoekhoe, Nama,Damara) is a dialect cluster including ǂAakhoe andHaiǁom
• Xiriis a dialect cluster also known as Griqua (Afrikaansspelling) or Cape Hottentot.
• Shuais a dialect cluster including Shwa, Deti, Tsʼixa, ǀXaise, and Ganádi
• Tsoais a dialect cluster including Cire Cire and Kua
• Kxoeis a dialect cluster includingǁAniand Buga
• Narois a dialect cluster
• Gǁanais a dialect cluster includingGǀwi.ǂHabais often included here, but may be closer to Naro.
• Tsʼixa:it is not yet clear if Tsʼixa is closest to Shua or to Khoe.

Dozens of names are associated with the Tshu–Khwe languages, especially with the Eastern cluster. These may be place, clan or totem names, often without any linguistically identifiable data. Examples includeMasasi, Badza, Didi,andDzhiki.It is not presently possible to say which languages correspond to which names mentioned in the anthropological literature, though the majority will likely turn out to be Shua or Tshua.

In most of the Eastern Kalahari Khoe languages, the alveolar and palatal clicks have been lost, or are in the process of being lost. For example, the northern dialect ofKuahas lost palatal clicks, but the southern dialect retains them. InTsʼixa,the change has createddoubletswith palatal clicks vs palatal plosives.

See also

• List of Proto-Khoe reconstructions(Wiktionary)
• List of Proto-Central Khoisan reconstructions(Wiktionary)

Further reading

• Baucom, Kenneth L. 1974. Proto-Central-Khoisan. In Voeltz, Erhard Friedrich Karl (ed.),Proceedings of the 3rd annual conference on African linguistics,7–8 April 1972, 3-37. Bloomington: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University.

References

• Güldemann, Tom and Edward D. Elderkin (2010) 'On External Genealogical Relationships of the Khoe Family.' in Brenzinger, Matthias and Christa König (eds.),Khoisan Languages and Linguistics: the Riezlern Symposium 2003.Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung 17. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
• Changing Profile when Encroaching on Hunter-gatherer Territory?: Towards a History of the Khoe–Kwadi Family in Southern Africa.Tom Güldemann, paper presented at the conferenceHistorical Linguistics and Hunter-gatherer Populations in Global Perspective,at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Aug. 2006.